Shaker



Oct. 8, 1957 J. w. MAGEE ETAL SHAKER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 9,1954 WLU 'M MA GEE /VA/V "60mm JNVENTORS MEY;

J. W. MAGEE ETAL SHAKE R Oct. 8, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 9,1954 J. 'WLL/AM MAGEE IVAN W CONRAD INVENTORS H770IQNEY United StatesSHAKER Joseph William Magee, Arlington, and Ivan Willard- Courad,Alexandria, Va.

This invention relates generally to shakers and more particularly to.new and useful improvements in shakers of. the type used inlaboratories. and clinics toperform certain routine operations as. inmaking a Kline test or as in blood typingof fresh blood or grouping ofdried blood.

Although in the interest of clarity the present description is directedtoa. shaker for blood grouping or typing, it will bev manifestto thoseskilled in the art that the principles of the present invention arereadily capable of application to shakers for a wide variety of otherpurposes.

It is well known that in clinical and related work, particularly in thefield of serology, many procedures require the. agitation of thesubstance. or substances under examination, in order to insurethe propermixture. or reaction of, the materials. involved. For example. inperforming grouping-(tests onv driedL blood a portion of the routineinvolves shaking absorbed globu-lins, such as Anti-A. and Anti-Bglobuli-ns, with known group B. or group A red blood cells,respectively. It can readily be appreciated that in the grouping ortyping of hundreds. of blood specimens, manual agitation or mixing notonly would be fatiguingand' wasteful of many man-hours, of effort, butalso would introduce serious questions of uniformity and reproducibilityof technique, particularly where several technicians are employed in.simultaneous mixing operations Laboratory experience therefore reflectsa need for an inexpensive, simple shaker capable of performing suchoperations with a, maximum of uniformity and with a. minimum ofattention from the supervising technician.

Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide anovel mechanical shaker which will Sl-ml'lr late as nearly as. possible:the various manual shaking motions heretofore found by experience toprovide. best results in laboratory and clinical techniques of the typedescribed.

A further object of the invention is to provide. a shaker of thecharacter described which is, relatively simple and inexpensive tomanufacture, and which will. require a minimum of maintenance, repair,and. operational expense.

Still a. further. object. of the invention is to provide a shaker of thetype set. forth which is extremely quiet in operation With the foregoingobjects, in, view, the invention consists in the novel combinations andarrangements of features, as will he hereinafter more fully described,illustrated in the accompanying. drawings, and defined inthe appendedclaims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein are illustrated differentpractical embodiments of the: invention and wherein. like characters ofreference denote. corresponding parts inrelated views Figure 1 isa-perspcctiveview partly broken away illustrating. a shaker; madeaccording to.- and embodying the presentinventiom Fig, 2 is. a frontview; partly phantom, illustrating the atent D 2,809,020 Patented Oct.8, 1957 nature of the adjustable mechanical linkage between the drivingmotor and the shaker platform.

Fig. 3 is a side view partly broken away showing further detail of thelinkage illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is. a front view of the linkage illustrated in Fig. 2 showing.linkage in differently adjusted. position.

Fig. 5 illustrates at A a top. plan and at B. a vertical sectionrespectively of a multiple well slide such as is commonly used inserological work.

Fig. 6 is. a vertical section of a single well of a well slide, such asshown in Fig. 5, containing a normal quantity of serological materials.and tipped at a normal shakingangle.

Fig. 7 is a top. plan view ofv a single well, such as that illustratedin Fig. 6, at. six successive points in a preferred shaking cycle.

Fig, 8 is a front view of an alternative shaker made according to andembodying the present invention.

Fig. 9 is. a side view of the shaker illustrated in Fig. 8.

Referring now to the drawings in further detail there is designatedgenerally by reference character M a. relatively low, variable speedmotor. In Fig. 1, motor M is suspended from the top of case 1 bysuspension mounts 2. Switch 3 serves to turn motor power on and off andvariable timer 4' controls the duration of operation. Speed control 5controls speed of the. motor M. At 6 is shown the movable shakerplatform which is driven by motor M through. mechanical linkageconsisting of driving member 7, adjustable driven member 8, clampingscrew 9 and combination radial and thrust bearing 10. The plane ofplatform 6 is maintained perpendicular to the axis 14; of member 8' atall times by bearing 10, Said bearing permitting member 8 to rotatefreely (relative to platform 6) about said axis. Platform 6. isrestrained from following the rotation of member 8 by restrainingsprings 11, which do however permitL limited movement of platform 6 inany direction. The case 1 forms a foundation frame or base for theequipment. and at one side thereof there is a vertically disposed member22 which extends above the normal plane of the platform 6 when theplatform is in a horizontal position. The springs 11 constituteresilient members that are symmetrically spaced withrespect to the drivemeans for platform 6, and extend between one peripheral edge of platform6 and spaced positions on the. vertically disposed member 22. Thedirections of angularity of resilient members 11 change over a widerange as the platform 6 varies in position. The axis 14 of adjustablemember 8 maybe adjusted relative to the axis 15 of driving; member 7'through any angle from 0 up to the practical limit set by componentdesign. In practice, an angle of approximately 20 to 30 betweensai'daxes has been found to be an entirely satisfactory upper limit.Similarly the axis 14 of member 8 may be laterally (radially) displacedrelative to the axis 15 of member 7', while maintaining any desiredangle between said axes. For example, in Fig. 2 wherein is illustratedin detail this mechanical linkage, an adjustment of member 8 is shownwhich causes the axis 14 of member 8 to intersect the axis 15' of member7 at point 12 which. point lies in the plane of the shaker platform 6.On: the other hand, in Fig. 4 is shown an adjustment of member 8'providing a lateral displacement but zero angle between the axes14and'15 of members 8 and 7 respectively.

For convenience of reference a 3-dimensional rectangular coordinatesystem is superimposed on the shaker having origin at O and axes OX, CY,and OZ. Thus, from the foregoing description it will be observed that asdriving member 7 rotates about its axisv 15 (parallel to y axis) theaxis 14 of driven member 8' will generate a conical surface ofrevolution,. the position of the vertex of which and the angle of whichmay be independently varied through adjustment of member 8 in relationto member 7. Similarly, it will be observed that platform 6 will undergoa continuous, progressive angular tilting motion, being maintained asaforesaid perpendicular to the conical generatrix 14. In addition itwill be further observed that if the axes of members 7 and 8 intersectwithin the plane of platform 6 as shown at 12 in Fig. 2, the motion ofplatform 6 will be a pure, progressive, angular tilting motion, withoutany element of eccentricity relative to the axis of rotation 15 ofmember 7. If however, the axes of member 7 and 8 are adjusted tointersect at a point not within the plane of platform 6, then inaddition to the progressive tilting motion described above there will beincluded an eccentric motion of platform 6, the radius of eccentricitybeing determined by the length of the perpendicular drawn from the axis15 of member 7 to the point at which the axis '14 of member 8 intersectsthe plane of platform 6.

Alternatively, if the axes 14 and 15 do not lie in the same plane, thesurface of revolution generated by axis 14 rotating about axis 15 willin general be a hyperboloid rather than a cone, and there will always besome eccentricity to the motion of platform 6 in addition to theprogressive tilting motion resulting from the angular relation betweenaxis 14 and axis 15, the radius of eccentricity again being determinedby the length of the perpendicular from axis 15 to the point at whichaxis 14 intersects the plane of platform 6.

Although a variety of adjustments may be employed for various shakerapplications, it has been found that an axial angle of approximately 15and an eccentricity of approximately radius furnishes excellent resultsin serological operations such as blood grouping, and accordingly thisrepresents a preferred adjustment for the purpose indicated, using amultiple well slide 16 as a reagent container held to shaker platform 6by clamps 17. (Refer Fig. 1.)

In Fig. is shown in detail at A a top plan of a typical well-slide 16,the individual wells being shown as 18, and at B a vertical section ofthe same slide 16 and slide cover 20. Shaded areas 19 in wells 18 of 58represent the reagent mixture requiring agitation for proper reaction.

In Fig. 6 is shown a vertical section through a single well 18 of slide16 showing the general position taken by the reagent mixture 19 when theslide is tilted at an angle with the horizontal as in the normal shakingcycle.

In order to illustrate more clearly the shaking or agitating actionproduced under the present invention, reference is made next to Fig. 7wherein is shown a top plan view of a single typical well 18 at sixsuccessive stages in a shaker cycle according to the embodimentillustrated in Fig. 1. The six stages are marked 0, 60, 120, 180, 240,and 300 respectively to correspond to the corresponding relativerotational positions of driving element 7 of Fig. 1. A base line 21,fixed with respect to well 18 is drawn to represent diagrammatically anedge of well slide 16 and thus serves to show the relative orientationof the well slide with respect to the x axis, OX. Shaded areas 19 asbefore reflect the relative positions of the reagent mixture, and itwill be observed that the mixture progressively moves around within thewell 18 as the shaker progressively changes the relative angular tiltthroughout the cycle. As further reflected in Fig. 7, the well 18 inthis instance also partakes of an eccentric motion, as for example aboutpoint 15, the axis of rotating member 7 of Fig. 1. Thus, as a result ofrepeated cycles of the type shown in Fig. 7, the reagent mixture 19received the thorough, controlled intermixing necessary to insure properreaction of the mixed reagents. I

In Fig. 8 is shown another embodiment of the invention similar inoperation to that illustrated in Fig. 1 with the added provision forlimited tilting of the axis relative to the vertical (y axis) in an xyplane. This additional adjustment makes it possible to have platform 6in a horizontal plane at one stage in the shaker cycle as shown in Fig.8. In such horizontal position, the reagent mixtures 19 assume thedistributions shown at B in Fig. 5, and thus during the course of theshaker cycle would progressively change from such distribution through aswirling motion to a distribution similar to that of Fig. 6. Thisshaking cycle has the prime advantage of repeatedly covering or bathingthe entire well floor with reagent mixture, even where only limitedreagent material is available, a distinct advantage where one of thereagents may be in a fiat thin flake form which lies on the well floor.Fig. 9 is a side view of the shaker shown in Fig. 8.

In operation of the embodiments of either Fig. l or Fig. 8, it is merelynecessary for the supervising technician or operator to fasten thewell-slide or other desired container to the shaker table by means ofclamps 17, set the speed of the motor M by control 5 to a valuepreviously determined to be optimum for a given procedure, set the timer4 for the desired duration of shaking, and turn switch 3 to the onposition. The operation thereafter is fully automatic, with automaticstopping at ex-- piration of desiredshaking time. From the above it willbe apparent that the present invention provides a novel shaking deviceideally suited to serological and related laboratory applications, sinceit substantially duplicates the manual shaking motion which heretoforehad been found by experience to provide the most reliable shakingtechnique prior to the present invention, and since the presentinvention improves on the prior manual technique from the standpoint ofmass reproducibility of results. It will further be apparent that thisshaker is substantially noiseless in operation and requires negligiblemaintenance, since the desired gyratory motion has been accomplishedwith an absolute minimum of moving parts.

While only certain embodiments of the invention have been illustratedand described to convey the general concept of the invention, it is tobe understood that the same is readily capable of various otherembodiments within its spirit and scope as defined in the appendedclaims.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is as follows:

1. A shaker comprising a foundation frame; a driving motor mounted insaid frame; a driven shaking platform; linkage means interconnectingsaid motor and said platform, said foundation frame projecting above oneside of said platform and resilient means interconnecting said frame andthe periphery of said platform at symmetrically spaced positions onopposite sides of the axis of said platform for imposing restrainingforces on said platform whereby said motor imparts to said platform amotion such that an axis of said platform generates a conicoid surfaceof revolution.

2. A laboratory shaker comprising a foundation frame; a driving motormounted in said frame; a plane driven shaking platform; adjustablelinkage means interconnecting said motor and said platform, saidfoundation frame having a vertically disposed projection extending abovethe plane of said platform adjacent one side thereof and resilient meansinterconnecting symmetrically spaced positions on the periphery of saidplatform and the projection of said foundation frame on opposite sidesof said adjustable linkage means for imposing yielding restrainingforces on said platform whereby said motor imparts to said platform amotion such that a line perpendicular to the plane of said platformgenerates an adjustable conicoid surface of revolution.

3. A laboratory shaker comprising a base structure; a platform; meansfor moving said platform relative to said base structure, said movingmeans including a rotating driving member, a driven member adjustablymounted on said driving member, a combination radial and thrust bearingmounted on said driven member and linking said driven member to saidplatform, whereby the axis of said bearing is maintained in a fixedrelation to said platform, said base structure having a verticalextension on one side thereof projecting above said platform andresilient means interconnecting symmetrically spaced positions at oneside of said platform with said vertical extension at one side of saidbase structure on opposite sides of the axis of said bearing forimposing yielding restraining forces on said platform and wherebyrotation of said driving member causes the axis of said bearing togenerate a conicoid surface of revolution, thereby causing said platformto execute a progressively changing angular tilting motion incombination with an eccentric motion.

4. A shaker as set forth in claim 3 in which the axis of the combinationradial and thrust bearing comprise two members coupled by an adjustableconnection to form any desired angle with the axis of the rotatingdriving member, thereby effectively changing the vertex angle of theconicoid surface of revolution generated by said hearing axis and thuschanging the corresponding tilt of said platform; and in which the axisof said bearing may be radially displaced relative to the axis of saiddriving member, thereby effectively moving along a line parallel to saiddriving member axis the vertex of the conicoid surface of revolutiongenerated by said bearing axis, and thus changing the correspondingradius of eccentricity of platform motion and in which said resilientmeans act in directions varying in angularity with respect to the planeof said platform and the plane of said vertical extension.

5. A shaker as set forth in claim 3 in which the orientation of the axisof the rotary driving member is adjustable through a limited rangerelative to the position of the base structure, whereby the platform isbrought into a substantially horizontal plane in at least one recurrentphase of the shaking cycle.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination consisting ofa base structure, a vertically disposed member connected with one sideof said base structure, an approximately vertical rotatable drivingshaft having adjustable axial orientation relative to said basestructure, a driven shaft adjustably fastened to said driving shaftwhereby said driven shaft may rotate relative to said base structureonly about the axis of said driving shaft and whereby the angularorientation and radial displacement of the axis of said driven shaftrelative to the axis of said driving shaft may be independently varied,a combination radial and thrust bearing mounted coaxially on said drivenshaft, a platform rigidly fastened to said bearing whereby said drivenshaft imparts to said platform substantially no component of rotationalmotion about the axis of said driven shaft but does impart to saidplatform substantially all other components of motion including radialand thrust motion imparted to said bearing by said driven shaft,resilient means extending between spaced positions on the same side ofthe periphery of said platform and said vertically disposed member forrestraining the movement of said platform and means for rotating saiddriving shaft relative to said base structure.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6 in which the relative axialorientation and radial displacement of the driving and driven shafts arepermanently fixed at preferred settings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS639,404 Kolls Dec. 19, 1899 1,602,196 Iverson et al Oct. 5, 19261,688,665 Smellie Oct. 23, 1928 1,871,374 John Aug. 9, 1932 2,247,978Van Arkel July 1, 1941 2,541,043 Curry Feb. 13, 1951 2,671,191 BraskiMar. 2, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 408,786 France Apr. 5, 1910 676,940 FranceFeb. 28, 1930

